Wednesday, November 2, 2011

One of the best jobs that any person, Ethiopian or otherwise, can wish for is one that allows the employee an opportunity to do what he or she loves to do. In fact, someone once said something to the tune of: "Find a job that you love to do and you won’t have to work a single day". The joy of being able to do exactly what one wants to do is today coined as "freelancing".

As if working as a freelancer, whether full- or part-time wasn’t enough, being able to do it online – from the comfort of your home, can only add to the pleasure of making money. In a world where jobs are getting scarcer by the minute, being able to work from home and in Ethiopia, indeed Africa, comes with a couple of advantages:

1 – Only an Ethiopian can describe about the complex cultures and traditions that Ethiopians have; as the same applies to each African about his or her country’s culture or traditions. It is only today that website owners are turning to the last frontier in the online domains: Africa (So, what else is new?). And as the owners look towards genuine content for their websites, they are turning to Ethiopian and African bloggers, writers and researchers that can give them content that is as genuine, original and unique as possible.

2 – One advantage any developing country has over the rest of the developed world is the fact that the exchange rates of major currencies (USD and Euro especially) works towards their advantage. At the time of the writing of this article, 1 USD had the exchange rate of approximately 17 Ethiopian Birr. Anyone can do the math.

It is with this in mind that good news is being heard around Addis Ababa. A workshop on freelancing is being planned to be held in Addis Ababa one how to work on one of the world’s most popular freelancing websites: eLance (elance.com). Organized by Pat Walsh, of Sky Business Centers and Diaryplan.com who is also an Irish eLance.com provider and buyer, this two-day workshop will enable Ethiopians, and any other interested expats to be able to grasp the wonderful world of opportunities that online freelancing can open to people that would love to work in almost any profession that can be done online. Writers, IT developers and administrators, researchers and just about anybody that can access the internet and use the basics of Microsoft Office can have a chance at pocketing an extra income.

So, what’s the catch? Well, there aren’t any. It’s absolutelyfree and all you need to do is fill up a simple form and you’re home free. Attendance of both days (09:00 – 12:00) of the workshop is mandatory, if you do not think you will be able to attend both days then please, do not waste the opportunity for others that would love to be in your seat.

If you, or anyone you know, are interested in attending this eLance workshop here in Addis Ababa, then please contact DeepEthiopian with more information. Registration date is until 09th November, 2011. Also, as the number of seats is limited, please make sure you hurry as admittance is on a first-come-first-serve basis.